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Aaron Pryor Jr. Wins By Majority Decision At Fantasy Springs Casino…AVILA

Published

14 years ago

May 7, 2011

INDIO, CA.-Despite lots of holding and few landed punches, Aaron Pryor Jr. boxed and moved and won by majority decision against Librado Andrade on Friday. Right hands did the business.

“Any time you come into somebody else’s back yard you worry,” said Pryor.

Few punches landed from either boxer but it was Andrade (29-4, 22 KOs) who landed more, especially to the body. That was not enough to convince the judges who gave the win to Pryor (16-3, 11 KOs) at the Fantasy Springs Casino in a 10-round super middleweight fight.

Fans booed the excessive holding that was allowed by referee Wayne Hedgepeth. Pryor was never warned.

Pryor’s size and movement caused Andrade to pause a bit and figure out a mode of attack. But once the continual holding developed Andrade began to use it as a method of attack and never stopped punching even when being held.

Body shots from round three on seemed to bother Pryor who was able to land some nice counter rights but nothing else. A few inside exchanges dissuaded Pryor from going that route.

Andrade walked through some right hands and after that he began to rough house the skinny Pryor at every chance. If Pryor held then Andrade bullied him while punching.

“I learned a lot from this fight,” said Pryor who sustained some big shots but never seemed hurt. “He roughed me up a bit and showed me some things I never saw before. He was a tough fighter.”

The elongated Pryor did land his right hands flush. None of those right hands ever hurt Andrade. It was the only effective punch Pryor could land effectively but it was enough to convince the young judges crew to give it to the son of one of boxing all time great Aaron Pryor.

“Usually when I hit somebody with my right I shake them,” said Pryor. “But he’s fought some of the best fighters in the world.”

Judge Fernando Villareal scored 95-95, Tom Taylor and Danny Sandoval scored it 96-94 for Pryor.

Other bouts

Former world title challenger Enrique Ornelas (31-7, 20 KOs) had to get up off the deck from a first round right uppercut from Mexicali’s Hector Hernandez (10-4-2, 4 KOs) and rally to win by unanimous decision.

La Habra, California’s Ornelas showed much more experience and skills but Hernandez had a jaw of steel and wasn’t afraid to use it. From the first round to the eighth Hernandez withstood some head shocking blows but never wilted. Whether they were left hooks to the body or right counters to the head, Hernandez bent but never snapped from blows that seemed right on target.

Hernandez tried uppercuts, right counters and some times attempted to steal rounds in the last 10 seconds, but nothing worked. Ornelas had too much experience to fall victim to those tricks and won on all three judge’s cards 78-73.

Local hero Randy “El Matador” Caballero (10-0, 6 KOs) wowed the crowd with a sixth round knockout of Dominican Republic’s Francis Ruiz (9-5, 4 KOs). A left hook-right hand combination floored the resilient Dominican at 38 seconds of the sixth and final round of the junior featherweight bout.

Caballero’s hand speed and variety of moves proved too much for Ruiz who had the grit but not the overall speed. Caballero beat him to the punch on every occasion and rarely was hit with a punch in return. It was enough to keep Hall of Fame great Pryor Sr. in his seat to watch the youngster do his work.

Former US Olympian Deontay Wilder (16-0, 16 KOs) knocked out New York’s Regino Pena (6-7) with a vicious uppercut at 2:03 of the first round of a heavyweight fight. Pena bulled his way forward with his head down and clinched several times before Wilder caught him with the uppercut. Pena didn’t realize he had been out for more than 15 seconds and demanded the fight continue.

“If my hands connect to your face, you’re gone,” said Wilder who spent most of the round keeping Pena from wrestling. “I wanted to show my true natural talent but he didn’t allow me to do that.”

Russia’s Sergey Kovalev (14-0, 12 KOs) stopped Terrance Woods (8-2, 6 KOs) of Texas with a barrage of head snapping blows at 1:54 of round three in a light heavyweight bout. Kovalev was in control of the fight all three rounds it lasted with solid defense and pinpoint shots to the body and head.

Hard luck Juan Sandoval (of Mexico City) finally got a win despite some bad judgments in the past. This time Palm Springs boxer Hugo Ramos was unable to muster enough punches to stave off the windmill punching Sandoval who trains out of San Bernardino who won by unanimous decision 40-36, 39-37 twice.

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David A. Avila

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2015 Fight of the Year – Francisco Vargas vs Takashi Miura

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

The WBC World Super Featherweight title bout between Francisco Vargas and Takashi Miura came on one of the biggest boxing stages of 2015, as the bout served as the HBO pay-per-view’s co-main event on November 21st, in support of Miguel Cotto vs Saul Alvarez.

Miura entered the fight with a (29-2-2) record and he was making the fifth defense of his world title, while Vargas entered the fight with an undefeated mark of (22-0-1) in what was his first world title fight. Both men had a reputation for all-out fighting, with Miura especially earning high praise for his title defense in Mexico where he defeated Sergio Thompson in a fiercely contested battle.

The fight started out hotly contested, and the intensity never let up. Vargas seemed to win the first two rounds, but by the fourth round, Miura seemed to pull ahead, scoring a knock-down and fighting with a lot of confidence. After brawling the first four rounds, Miura appeared to settle into a more technical approach. Rounds 5 and 6 saw the pendulum swing back towards Vargas, as he withstood Miura’s rush to open the fifth round and the sixth round saw both men exchanging hard punches.

The big swinging continued, and though Vargas likely edged Miura in rounds 5 and 6, Vargas’ face was cut in at least two spots and Miura started to assert himself again in rounds 7 and 8. Miura was beginning to grow in confidence while it appeared that Vargas was beginning to slow down, and Miura appeared to hurt Vargas at the end of the 8th round.

Vargas turned the tide again at the start of the ninth round, scoring a knock down with an uppercut and a straight right hand that took Miura’s legs and sent him to the canvas. Purely on instinct, Miura got back up and continued to fight, but Vargas was landing frequently and with force. Referee Tony Weeks stepped in to stop the fight at the halfway point of round 9 as Miura was sustaining a barrage of punches.

Miura still had a minute and a half to survive if he was going to get out of the round, and it was clear that he was not going to stop fighting.

A back and forth battle of wills between two world championship level fighters, Takashi Miura versus “El Bandido” Vargas wins the 2015 Fight of the Year.

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Jan 9 in Germany – Feigenbutz and De Carolis To Settle Score

Published

9 years ago

January 4, 2016

The Sweet Science

This coming Saturday, January 9th, the stage is set at the Baden Arena in Offenburg, Germany for a re-match between Vincent Feigenbutz and Giovanni De Carolis. The highly anticipated re-match is set to air on SAT.1 in Germany, and Feigenbutz will once again be defending his GBU and interim WBA World titles at Super Middleweight.

The first meeting between the two was less than three months ago, on October 17th and that meeting saw Feigenbutz controversially edge De Carolis on the judge’s cards by scores of (115-113, 114-113 and 115-113). De Carolis scored a flash knock down in the opening round, and he appeared to outbox Feigenbutz in the early going, but the 20 year old German champion came on in the later rounds.

The first bout is described as one of the most crowd-pleasing bouts of the year in Germany, and De Carolis and many observers felt that the Italian had done enough to win.

De Carolis told German language website RAN.DE that he was more prepared for the re-match, and that due to the arrogance Feigenbutz displayed in the aftermath of the first fight, he was confident that he had won over some of the audience. Though De Carolis fell short of predicting victory, he promised a re-vamped strategy tailored to what he has learned about Feigenbutz, whom he termed immature and inexperienced.

The stage is set for Feigenbutz vs De Carolis 2, this Saturday January 9th in Offenburg, Germany. If you can get to the live event do it, if not you have SAT.1 in Germany airing the fights, and The Boxing Channel right back here for full results.

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2015 Knock Out of the Year – Saul Alvarez KO’s James Kirkland

Published

9 years ago

December 29, 2015

The Sweet Science

On May 9th of 2015, Saul “Canelo” Alvarez delivered a resonant knock-out of James Kirkland on HBO that wins the 2015 KO of the Year.

The knock-out itself came in the third round, after slightly more than two minutes of action. The end came when Alvarez delivered a single, big right hand that caught Kirkland on the jaw and left him flat on his back after spinning to the canvas.Alvarez was clearly the big star heading into the fight. The fight was telecast by HBO for free just one week after the controversial and disappointing Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao fight, and Alvarez was under pressure to deliver the type of finish that people were going to talk about. Kirkland was happy to oblige Alvarez, taking it right to Alvarez from the start. Kirkland’s aggression saw him appear to land blows that troubled the young Mexican in the early going. Alvarez played good defense, and he floored Kirkland in the first round, displaying his power and his technique in knocking down an aggressive opponent.

However, Kirkland kept coming at Alvarez and the fight entered the third round with both men working hard and the feeling that the fight would not go the distance. Kirkland continued to move forward, keeping “Canelo” against the ropes and scoring points with a barrage of punches while looking for an opening.

At around the two minute mark, Alvarez landed an uppercut that sent Kirkland to the canvas again. Kirkland got up, but it was clear that he did not have his legs under him. Kirkland was going to try to survive the round, but Alvarez had an opportunity to close out the fight. The question was would he take it?

Alvarez closed in on Kirkland, putting his opponent’s back to the ropes. Kirkland was hurt, but he was still dangerous, pawing with punches and loading up for one big shot.

But it was the big shot “Canelo” threw that ended the night. Kirkland never saw it coming, as he was loading up with a huge right hand of his own. The right Alvarez threw cracked Kirkland in the jaw, and his eyes went blank. His big right hand whizzed harmlessly over the head of a ducking Alvarez, providing the momentum for the spin that left Kirkland prone on the canvas.

Saul “Canelo” Alvarez went on to defeat Miguel Cotto in his second fight of 2015 and he is clearly one of boxing’s biggest stars heading into 2016. On May 9th Alvarez added another reel to his highlight film when he knocked out James Kirkland with the 2015 “Knock Out of the Year”.

Photo by naoki fukuda

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